MAJOR LEAGUES
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright pitched a shutout to extend Colorado’s hitless streak to epic proportions as the Cardinals beat the Rockies 3-0 on Saturday.
The Rockies were held hitless in 49 consecutive at-bats over two games of this series before breaking the drought in the eighth inning.
Also on Saturday, Madison Bumgarner struck out 11 as San Francisco crushed Atlanta, Vernon Wells starred with bat and glove as the New York Yankees edged Kansas City, and Minnesota downed Baltimore.
Cleveland hung on for a nail-biting win at Detroit, Philadelphia ended Arizona’s five-game winning streak and Toronto beat Boston thanks to a ninth-inning Adam Lind homer.
Colorado’s 49 at-bats is the longest hitless stretch since 1981 when the Los Angeles Dodgers went 50 at-bats without a knock, according to STATS.
Wainwright (5-2) struck out seven for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career. The Cardinals won for the ninth time in 10 games.
San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner (4-1) struck out a season-high 11 over seven innings as the Giants downed Atlanta 10-1 in a match of National League divisional leaders.
Gregor Blanco entered in the fifth as a pinch hitter for the Giants and drove in four runs. He had a three-run double and triple in setting a career high for RBIs.
New York’s Vernon Wells hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning then made a long-running game-ending catch that preserved a victory as the Yankees won 3-2 at Kansas City.
New York starter Andy Pettitte (4-2) showed off his mastery of the Royals once more, allowing two runs in seven stellar innings. The 40-year-old struck out seven and improved to 15-3 in his career against the Royals.
Minnesota’s Ryan Doumit homered while Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau each had three hits as the Twins beat Baltimore 8-5.
Minnesota starter Vance Worley (1-4) struggled through five 1-3 innings, but a strong performance by Minnesota’s bullpen enabled him to earn his first win in 13 starts.
Cleveland closer Chris Perez got Miguel Cabrera to hit a game-ending groundout with two batters on base, giving the Indians a 7-6 win over Detroit.
It was 7-5 when Perez allowed an unearned run in the ninth, but with men on first and second, Cabrera hit a weak grounder to third to end it.
Tigers’ starter Justin Verlander (4-3) was erratic early, allowing three runs in the first two innings. He settled a bit after that, but the Indians took a 6-1 lead before Detroit closed the gap with a four-run seventh.
Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez (3-2) outpitched him, allowing one run in six innings, striking out eight with one walk. He has won three straight starts for the first time since joining Cleveland in 2011.
Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Phillies to a 3-1 win over Arizona.
Lee (4-2) won consecutive road starts for the first time since 2011.
Jimmy Rollins drove in a pair of runs for the Phillies, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Down 2-0, Arizona loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh before pinch-hitter Will Nieves grounded out.
Toronto’s Adam Lind hit a tiebreaking homer off Boston closer Junichi Tazawa leading off the ninth inning and the Blue Jays hung on for a 3-2 win over the Red Sox.
Lind belted a 2-2 pitch from Tazawa (2-2) into the center field bleachers.
The struggling Blue Jays had blown a 2-0 lead in the eighth.
Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce homered his first time up, then doubled twice during a seven-run burst as the Reds delighted a sellout crowd, battering the Milwaukee Brewers 13-7.
Oakland’s Josh Donaldson, Daric Barton and Brandon Moss hit solo home runs and Jarrod Parker pitched into the seventh to lead the Athletics to a 4-3 win against Seattle.
Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Rays an 8-7 win over San Diego.
Washington’s Stephen Strasburg dropped his fifth consecutive decision as the Chicago Cubs beat the Nationals 8-2.
Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano struck out nine and pitched into the sixth inning to win his debut with Pirates, beating the New York Mets 11-2.
Los Angeles’ Mike Trout hit a two-run homer and Jerome Williams pitched into the seventh inning to help the Angels beat the White Sox 3-2.
Andre Ethier had a pair of doubles among his season-high four hits while Dee Gordon hit a rare home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers broke an eight-game losing skid with a 7-1 victory over Miami.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but